McConnell calls on Supreme Court to stop ‘regulatory overreach’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday that President Obama has tried to “upend energy regulation,” and called on the Supreme Court to stop it.

McConnell made the remarks as the Supreme Court heard challenges to an Obama administration greenhouse gas regulation.

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“[The Supreme Court] now has the opportunity to end this latest abuse of the Constitution by the Obama Administration,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “This case is about more than constitutional theory but also about people’s lives.”

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can regulate industry emissions, including coal-fired power plants, chemical facilities and oil refineries.

McConnell said current regulations are “unfair” and harm his constituents who mine coal.

“The administration has attempted to use statutes like the Clean Air Act to regulate things those laws were never intended to regulate,” McConnell said. “This kind of presidential overreach is something that should concern every member of this body, regardless of party. And from a constitutional perspective, this is a wholly troubling practice that needs to be rectified by the court.”

The EPA has tried to limit power plant carbon emissions because they harm the environment and public health, but Republicans have accused the administration of waging a “war on coal.”